From The Editor

The reaction to our newly-redesigned GCN magazine and website has been huge and heartening, but counterbalancing our celebration, it’s been a sad beginning to the summer. On the day our relaunch issue was printed, Ireland’s queer community lost one of its greatest champions of equality, the powerhouse that was Ann Louise Gilligan. And then on July 1, legendary and beloved Cork activist, Dave Roach passed away suddenly. Both Ann Louise’s and Dave’s partners, Katherine Zappone and Paul O’Sheah, pay tribute to them in this issue, and while we know there are hard times ahead, we also know the legacies of both these hugely courageous mavericks will live on, not only in the LGBT+ community, but in Ireland.

All at GCN extend our sympathies to Ann Louise’s and Dave’s families and friends at this time, and encourage them to know that their community is supporting them.

Also paying tribute to Ann Louise this month as part of her interview about The 34th is Linda Cullen, who talks about the love story at the heart of the Marriage Equality organisation. The film, which charts the story of the referendum from the point of view of Marriage Equality opens GAZE this year, and it promises to be an evening to remember, with many, if not all the key players in the achievement of the 2015 referendum win in attendance.

Our cover feature is also inspired by GAZE, and the much talked-about lesbian film, Under Her Mouth, which is a centerpiece screening at the festival. Starring model Erika Linder, the film is being lauded for its realistic depiction of lesbian sex, so we decided to ask writer Róisín McVeigh to assess it in the light of other 21st century lesbian representations on screen.

Under Her Mouth is part of a sterling line-up over four days at the beginning of August that marks 25 years of GAZE, which I was privileged to have been part of, both as a programmer and a board member, during its history.

Film has a very important ongoing role to play in LGBT+ lives. Although we’ve seen more and more queer movies, representations of our lives on the big screen are still in the minority or are misleading, for some members of the LGBT+ community more than others. Moonlight, a film about poverty and black American gay experience, won the Oscar for Best Film this year, but it’s a rare thing that queer lives get such exposure, while queer films often don’t get the exposure they deserve. For a quarter of a century GAZE has been giving queer lives and films that exposure, and I think a hearty thank-you to all the volunteers who have sat on its board over the years is well in order. Successive committees have grown our Dublin festival to be one of the most respected in the world, while keeping it a very Irish LGBT+ community experience.

This year, the festival will be presenting a GCN Town Hall Talk about queer media making and creative activism, which I’m delighted to sit on the panel for.

We’ll see you there, if not at one of the myriad screenings over the August Bank Holiday weekend.